Amy Gahran's news and musings on how we communicate in the online age.

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links for 2010-07-31

"Verizon and AT&T are rushing to get it integrated with their existing networks, but the new network is LightSquared will function as “a disruptive force” … “by democratizing wireless broadband services,” the firm’s new Chair and CEO Sanjiv Ahuja said on Tuesday. It is targeted to Best Buy, Walmart and kin and opens the door for TracPhone-like prepaid services an sell interchangeable LTE mobile phones/computers that you can “top up” with any of the branded vendors renting spectrum from LightSquared.

"In addition to pressure on Verizon and AT&T, both cable and satellite TV systems could become collateral damage. LTE has the capacity to deliver both fast Internet and full HD video to computer, mobile or set-top device — almost anywhere in the country."

"LightSquared will offer broadband coverage on a wholesale basis to a range of businesses and entities, including device makers, wireless and wireline network operators, retailers, content providers and more. LightSquared claims to own a national footprint of 59MHz of spectrum in an "advantageous frequency position." LightSquared didn't specify what bands it owns. The company says its network will cover 92% of Americans by the year 2015 and create 100,000 jobs along the way."

"Android, despite being open source, still did not give a user complete control over the device. This laid basis for many potential abilities remaining dormant, and subsequently Android devices began to get ‘rooted’. Now this begets the question, why root? With so many Android-based handsets out there now, this question has become even more important.

"Rooting essentially means gaining root-level access to your device. Those who have used Linux OS will easily understand, but for users like me who have been loyal to Microsoft’s operating system all their lives, this means that by rooting your device you get complete control over what should remain in the device and what not. Rooting means you are the master and in control, not to mention the fun of it.

"Hence, here’s a list of my top 10 reasons (in no particular order) that I consider worthy of rooting your device for…"

"To create anonymous access to Google, Marlinspike created an add-on for the Firefox web browser with a custom proxy server, which redirects you when you are using a Google application. If Marlinspike’s software detects a request for a Google service that does not require a login, it sends the request to the Google Sharing proxy server. That server anonymizes your identity and assigns a cookie to you that will work with the Google service. The link from you to the proxy server is encrypted using SSL technology. You can then use the Google service without being tracked"

"It is always amazing how few BlackBerry users have heard of App World, given the usability of App World that my not be a bad thing. Regardless RIM has moved on the 2.0 of App World and it is now available in beta. App World 2.0 has many enhancements including payment options carrier billing and credit card in addition to PayPal. One annoying limitation of App World is the lack of top apps (free or paid) by category, which is something available on competing app stores. Another great option Android users are enjoying are QR barcodes so you don’t have to search you can scan a barcode and off to the app page."

"If you have a Droid X and you are interested in rooting your device, check this out. It will allow you to install programs to collect screenshots, among other things, and to remove programs from your device that were installed by the vendor or the carrier, that you don’t want to use. Please keep in mind that you still CANNOT load alternate ROM’s on the Droid X. While the device has been rooted, the ‘bootloader’ is still locked with eFuse and so that is not yet possible. Also, please note that this program is Windows only and requires dotNet Framework 3.5 (already loaded on Windows 7)."

"He speculates this difference is because Android users tend to be more hard-core data users, whereas the iPhone may be used more by casual users who like the phone because it's cool.
"The iPhone makes much more of a lifestyle and social statement than an Android phone makes," Finegold said. "People interested in an Android are looking for horsepower."